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In honor of The University of Akron’s most famous, and favorite Offensive Coordinator, we’re inviting you to “Party With Marty!” in the grass area behind the south goal post on Saturday September 26th! “I Partied With Marty!” tee shirts will be handed out to the first 1000 participants courtesy of Sully’s Tool and Party Rental. In addition, $2.00 Bud Lights will be available in a commemorative “I Partied With Marty” souvenir cup! Hey Zips fans…let’s “Fill the Hill!” Show up in the beginning of the 2nd quarter to get your cups, tee shirts, and party hearty with Marty! Let's show Las Vegas how to really party!! BEAT UNLV!

QB: Junior Jake Lindsey has thrown for 543 yards with a 69% completion rate and no interceptions. Surprisingly, he’s only thrown for a single touchdown over a two-game span. Lindsey isn’t much of a threat to run and rarely has to when playing behind Minnesota’s massive offensive line. RB: Senior Darius Taylor hasn’t had a ton of opportunities thus far, but he’s still a bigger back that can do some damage. Taylor has 71 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns to go along with 36 receiving yards. WR: Former Miami of Ohio transfer Javon Tracy leads the team in receptions and yards, collecting 12 catches for 149 yards. He is also the punt returner and has taken two back for touchdowns. Cincinnati transfer Noah Jennings is second on the team with 10 receptions for 145 yards. TE: The Gophers don’t target their tight ends much in the passing game but senior Pierce Walsh does have four receptions. OL: The offensive line rarely allows pressure on the quarterback and has given up only two sacks this season, both against Mississippi State. LT - Nathan Roy (6’5 305) LG - Greg Johnson (6’6 325) C - Ashton Beers (6’6 320) RG - Tony Nelson (6’6 325) RT - Daniel Shipp (6’5 295) DL: The Gopher pass rush has been about as anemic as the Zips’, however, that doesn’t mean Minnesota is lacking in talent. Senior Anthony Smith plays both inside and out. Former Cal transfer TJ Bush has one of the defense’s two sacks. Against MSU, junior Jaylon Hicks started on the interior, as did senior Karter Menz on the edge. LB: Seniors Maverick Baranowski and Matt Kingsbury start at linebacker. The duo have combined for 22 total tackles. DB: Michigan State transfer Aydan West and former Iowa transfer John Nestor start at the cornerback positions. Seniors Kerry Brown and Aidan Gousby, along with sophomore Zack Harden, are the starters at safety and nickel. ST: Tom Weston is the main punter and averages 38.3 yards per punt with a long of 45. Minnesota has used two different kickers on field goals, and they have gone 3 for 3. Beckham Sunderland has put 11 of his 13 kickoffs in the endzone. Keys on Offense: Find a way to keep drives moving and take care of the football. MSU’s mobile quarterback really hurt the Minnesota defense, and it would not be a surprise if CB came out of this game as Akron’s leading rusher. I’m not sure if the Zips OL will be able to consistently get push on the Gophers defensive front, so CB’s legs may have to make up for that. Keys on Defense: Force turnovers and keep the ball in front. Stopping Minnesota’s run game should be the main priority as I’m not sure the Zips defense will be able to get much pressure on Lindsey. In essence, force the Gophers into long, multi-play drives in the hopes they goof up. Final Thoughts: I don’t like this matchup, and there aren’t many areas where the Zips will have the advantage. As a comparison, Minnesota is bigger and more physical than Wake Forest. Akron will need to play at a very high level and have some help from Minnesota to pull out a win.

I'm 100% in support of this. I know we might miss out on some money because of it, but it means a greater number of competitive games (in theory) and a better chance at a bowl game. I wish it was happening this year or next year 😆

I'm invested in the team this year. I'm an optimist always trying to find the bright side. I was excited when they got Reese and wanted to see the gunslinger with the experience, but I knew the potential that CB had. After two games of seeing CB at the helm, I'm impressed. This kid has stepped in and to me has shown that he has poise and is extremely accurate, he has gotten lucky a couple times with some missed interceptions but I'll take it, and his elusiveness his a huge asset. I wish sometimes he would learn to throw the ball away but he is playing his game and it is exciting. When CB gets comfortable I know he can drop dimes 30-40 yards he just hasn't shown it yet and the way he has been using Elijah it's only a matter of time til the deep balls start opening up. Roggow coming off the bench looks like he is the man when he walks out there. It is like he is coming on the field like he is the starter from the very first second he steps on the field. That confidence is amazing and he looks good. I think we are going to be in a good spot come conference time with these two. I KNOW we are going to be big underdogs the next two weeks but I am hoping the stars line up and maybe, just maybe we can pull off at least one upset and shock the world. I think that would be amazing. There are some exciting young players on this team that are fun to watch when they are on the field. I thought twice we were gonna score on special teams this week. Patrick looks like he is always a step or two from taking it to the house. Now I'm always waiting for Dante to lay someone out from the linebacker spot or waiting for Abor to get that highlight blindside sack to cause the fumble. Wake Forest was rough but it was the FIRST game for A LOT of very young players and like someone pointed out earlier they did not quit, ever and they got a lot of experience. As long as they continue to improve the next two weeks conference play should be fun and competitive. Minnesota and UNLV have not looked like that super teams that I thought they were going to be, albeit they have not been playing MAC teams, but like I said I am hoping we can at least one upset...

Zips move up from #14 to #6 in the Coaches Poll. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/ Georgetown at #9. Creighton at #14. Cornell at #17. Marquette is receiving votes. West Virginia is receiving votes.

I wasn't a fan of Joe at the start of last season because he often seemed to focus on the negatives and didn't seem like someone who was capable of turning lemons into lemonade. Not that I ever was calling for his job because frankly I knew the program couldn't afford to fire him financially. In the months leading up to the season, and especially during the promotion, he has grown on me. He has seemed to embrace making the most of what he has and was a great ambassador of the University after the promotion went viral. I hope he can succeed here, which in the current state would be winning 6-7 games a season. Edit: This is probably the most invested I've been in Akron football in a decade+.

It's definitely growth but not in the traditional sense. Gotta find a new metric to measure "growth" cause year to year growth won't quite make as much sense as it used too. Maybe a percentage of students in Ohio? Something like that

Same. BTN Overflow at noon.

Instead of the playoffs continuously expanding I wish they would have just expanded the regular season to 13 games. Under that scenario all conferences could have expanded to 9 games, but also preserved 4 OOC games.

I think the most likely route, as long as the University remains in financial trouble, is that we play two money games and one FCS game. And the G6 games become less likely. It takes away any real "measuring stick" games in the non-conference, but keeps the money coming in as well as the FCS wins for bowl eligibility.

Right. But then looking at some of those years...you show a 25,000+ crowd for Game 1, then a 6,000 attendance average the rest of the way. This promotion combined with the gameday ops will increase attendance...not immediately, it's not like we're gonna get 27,000 for a noon game with UNLV two weeks after doing this for the first time, but this sort of stuff moves the trendline the right way for once. Now to get rid of the midweek crap.

Even B1G and SEC still schedule FCS schools to pad win totals. MAC teams aren't going to eliminate those games as coaches need those wins to help inflate their records.

Maybe the FCS game goes by the wayside.

I'm no longer convinced we're going to be a big underdog against UNLV.

Eastern Michigan is what I was referencing. EMU is a 3:30 kick.

Big Cat gave Akron another shout out during the PMT podcast today. https://x.com/VivaLaStool/status/2099468793936536040

I was on the flight home yesterday with our team. Kudos to the Southwest crew ... when we landed in Cleveland, they gave a shout out ... Congratulations to Coach Jared and the Akron Zips Men's Soccer team on their win, remaining undefeated and currently ranked #14 . The passengers applauded. Well-deserved accolades and some free publicity.

Just watched the NBC national news and they usually have a feel good story at the end of the broadcast and it was about our offensive coordinator for the day Marty. Amazing publicity for the program. Really well done. Here is the link https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news-netcast/video/nbc-nightly-news-full-episode-sept-13-269797445768

oh man I thought I was done reading this stuff like 4 years ago

Love it! If we can start scoring earlier, we can have a #1 resume.

Monday September 14 Mercyhurst 1 Robert Morris 0